Media played up the allrounder rivalry: Kapil Dev

Imran Khan highly praised Kapil Dev and spoke of the competition they had on the cricket field when both countries played against each other.

It is a rarity to see two greatest allrounders on on stage - Imran Khan and Kapil Dev together and both talking on the rivalry between themselves and of course India vs Pakistan on the cricket field.
Cricketer-turned politician Imran, who is here in India to attend Agenda Aaj Tak 2015 highly praised Kapil and also the competition they had on the cricket field when both countries played against each other.
During the session, both World Cup winning captains said that there was always a sense of competition to better one another. While Kapil was of the opinion that it was the media who spiced up the allrounder talk.

"Had a competition at the back of my mind. Even if I did not feel that way, the media played it up. The media would talk about allrounders. If I saw the Pakistan scorecards, I would check how Imran did. It came to my mind. I was the most junior allrounder so I wanted to catch up," Kapil said.

Imran said, he was impressed to see Kapil bowl for the first time in a charity match. "I noticed a young fast bowler in a charity match, who bowled a first ball bouncer - quite rare to see from Indian pacers. Kapil was a flamboyant batsman too and undoubtedly a fabulous allrounder," Imran said.
Then the talk moved back to the allrounder contest in their playing times and the 1992 World Cup winning captain said it was a natural competition with Kapil.
"It was a natural competion with Kapil - cricket is a gladiatorial contest. There are at best four match-winners. Kapil was a match-winner for India, I was a match-winner for Pakistan. We were always competitive," Imran said.